Alex Ribeiro

Alex Ribeiro
	Ribeiro in the 1977 Argentine Grand Prix
Born	7 November 1948 (age 75)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Brazilian
Active years	1976 - 1977, 1979
Teams	Hesketh, March, Fittipaldi
Entries	20 (10 starts)
Career points	0
First entry	1976 United States Grand Prix
Last entry	1979 United States Grand Prix

Last updated March 12, 2024

Alex Dias Ribeiro (born in Belo Horizonte, November 7, 1948^[1]) is a former racing driver from Brazil. He entered in 20 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix but scored no World Championship points.

Career

After solid graduation from the lower formulae (he placed fifth in the 1976 European Formula Two season), Ribeiro paid for his drive in the March Formula One team for the 1977 season (main sponsors were Caixa Econômica Federal-a Brazilian bank and Souza Cruz-a tobacco company).

However, the season turned into a nightmare. March owner Max Mosley (later FIA president) hired four drivers, and the team simply could not provide for them all. Ribeiro's reputation as a driver suffered.

In 1978, he tried to save his credentials as a racing driver and set up a privately owned F2 team to enter the 1978 European Formula Two season, a year dominated by the March factory team. His car was painted with the words "Jesus Saves". Ribeiro managed to win the Nürburgring round dramatically after favorites Bruno Giacomelli and Marc Surer retired from the race. The rest of the season, however, bore no fruit.

Then, in 1979, the fellow Brazilian Fittipaldi team offered him two chances to qualify a second car, for the Canadian and American Formula One Grands Prix. However, the team was concentrating on former F1 champion Emerson Fittipaldi, and Ribeiro failed to qualify for both events.

Ribeiro was perhaps best known for his proclamation of faith in the form of 'Jesus Saves' slogans on his Formula One cars.^[2]

He subsequently went on to perform Chaplaincy at the F1 events he attended as the driver of the Medical Car and is arguably the most accomplished driver in the 'Christians In Motorsport' group.

In 1994, he joined the Brazil national football team as a pastor at the FIFA World Cup in the United States. He held worship services for the team and later wrote a book about the team's journey to victory, titled "Who won the '94 World Cup?" (¿quién Ganó La Copa Mundial?).^[3]

At the 2002 Brazilian Grand Prix, Ribeiro was involved in a potentially serious incident. During the morning warm-up on race day Sunday, Enrique Bernoldi crashed his Arrows in Turn 2. When Ribeiro, the driver of the Medical Car, went out to check on Bernoldi, he opened the door to the car. Just as he opened it, Nick Heidfeld came along in his Sauber and smashed into the open door. Both Ribeiro and Heidfeld were uninjured.

In 1981, Ribeiro wrote an autobiographical book called "Mais Que Vencedor" (rough translation "More Than A Winner"), in which he names March owner Max Mosley "Mack Mouse" and March engineer Robin Herd "Robin Hood". He owned a motorbike shop in Brasilia where both Nelson Piquet and Roberto Moreno worked as young mechanics, therefore having the unusual distinction that the same shop produced 3 Formula One drivers.

Racing record

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pos.	Pts
1975	March Engineering	March 752	BMW	EST	THR	HOC	NÜR	PAU	HOC	SAL	ROU	MUG	PER	SIL	ZOL	NOG	VAL Ret	NC	0
1976	March Engineering	March 762	BMW	HOC 13	THR 2	VAL 3	SAL 5	PAU 6	HOC Ret	ROU Ret	MUG 4	PER 2	EST 3	NOG 5	HOC Ret			5th	31
1977	March Engineering	March 772P	BMW	SIL	THR 3	HOC	NÜR									DON 8		14th	4
	AFMP Euroracing	March 772						VAL 14	PAU	MUG
	Fred Opert Racing	Chevron B40	Hart								ROU 7	NOG	PER	MIS DNQ	EST
1978	Alex Ribeiro	March 782	Hart	THR 15	HOC 6	NÜR 1	PAU 12	MUG 10	VAL NC	ROU 10	DON Ret	NOG Ret	PER 7	MIS 13	HOC			8th	11

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC
1976	Hesketh Racing	Hesketh 308D	Cosworth V8	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA 12	JPN		NC
1977	Hollywood March Racing	March 761B	Cosworth V8	ARG Ret	BRA Ret	RSA Ret	USW Ret	ESP DNQ	MON DNQ	BEL DNQ	SWE DNQ	FRA DNQ	GBR DNQ	GER 8	AUT DNQ	NED 11	ITA DNQ	USA 15	CAN 8	JPN 12	NC
1979	Fittipaldi Automotive	Fittipaldi F6A	Cosworth V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN DNQ	USA DNQ			NC

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References

↑ Jenkins, Richard. "The World Championship drivers - Where are they now?". OldRacingCars.com. Retrieved 2007-07-29.
↑ "Presents Alex Ribeiro". Thegoal.com. Retrieved 2011-12-28.
↑ Ribeiro, Alex Dias (1995). Who Won the '94 World Cup?. ISBN 1900889005.

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[WATN-1] Jenkins, Richard. "The World Championship drivers - Where are they now?". OldRacingCars.com. Retrieved 2007-07-29.

[2] "Presents Alex Ribeiro". Thegoal.com. Retrieved 2011-12-28.

[3] Ribeiro, Alex Dias (1995). Who Won the '94 World Cup?. ISBN 1900889005.

[1]

[2]

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Formula One World Championship career
Ribeiro in the 1977 Argentine Grand Prix
Born	(1948-11-07) 7 November 1948 (age 75)
Nationality	Brazilian
Active years	1976 - 1977, 1979
Teams	Hesketh, March, Fittipaldi
Entries	20 (10 starts)
Career points	0
First entry	1976 United States Grand Prix
Last entry	1979 United States Grand Prix